Gently Falling Snow
by JinJinnieJitsu
Summary: What happens to Sakura when Syaoran ends their 8 year relationship, and in a twist of fate, she ends up in the arms of one particular snow rabbit... A YukitoxSakura story, the first fanfic I ever wrote, and have rewritten time and time again. Enjoy!
1. Author's Notes, Feel Free to Skip!

**It's been a long time, hasn't it?**

This story is going under yet another rewrite.. Yeah, it may be more important to get on with the actual story, and I will (the plot notes are there and waiting), but reading through again after all those months made me… cringe.

There were so many unexplained events! Like why did so-and-so do this for no apparent reason whatsoever other than for the sake of the plot? It does not compute!!

And after reading those precious few reviews, I felt like I had to at least make the intros as best as I could… It was the least I could do.

Usual disclaimer: CCS and all respective characters belong to CLAMP, story is mine aka JinJinnieJitsu's, etc, etc.. I take no responsibility for Syaoran's attitude. Will he get better? Who knows.

A little background – this fic was for the purpose of expressing an old love for the SakuraxYukito pairing. They were probably my first favourite pairing, before eventually being taken over by the all-dominating yet all-loving SyaoranxSakura.

And a small warning: There are spoilers abound, both big and small.

Okay, I'll shut up now, sorry for the time-waste, on with the story!


	2. Prologue

**.Prologue.**

_It was a perfect day._

_A perfect day for bad things to come._

First, it had been her fight with Kero - it was over something trivial, something that neither of them could remember, as always. But for some reason, the argument had escalated much higher than usual, and Kero had snapped, firing every little insult he had at her.

_"What kind of girl still lives with her dad AND her bro at 18?!_

_"You don't have any friends! You've just been moping and sulking ever since Tomoyo moved to the US!_

_"Even the cards are getting sick of you - you haven't practiced with them for yonks!_

_"Dammit, don't tell me you lost the staff! Idiot!_

_"You've gained weight, greedy guts!_

_"You have crap fashion sense!_

_"You cry so easily! Big baby!_

_"I know what you write in your diary!_

_"You still sleep with your silly little teddy-weddy at night!"_

As the insults got more and more ridiculous, Sakura had calmed down and was about to apologize [for one thing, she'd stopped keeping a diary years ago] when Kero had suddenly dropped the mother of all bombs.

_"Even that brat in Hong Kong doesn't like you anymore!"_ He'd yelled before flying out the window.

That comment hit her like a ton of rocks. She'd tried calling Tomoyo, to ask what to do. Sure, Tomoyo was in the US, but they still got in touch frequently.

The time zone problems made long chats quite difficult, though. Sakura had found her cousin needing to log off her IM or hang up soon after they got talking. But at least Tomoyo promised that they'd always be friends, no matter what.

_Still, it was a little depressing, to say in the least._

But by then, after Kero had taken his dramatic leave, it was too late to call Tomoyo. She was probably asleep, or just getting up. Instead, she called Syaoran. She'd told herself that it was just to prove Kero wrong. After all, she'd been going out with him Syaoran for the past 8 years. That had to mean something.

Actually, when was the last time they'd spoken? When was the last time he came to Japan? True, he hadn't returned many of her calls, and he'd been putting off visits for a while, but he was busy preparing for university, or something like that. Sakura mulled it over as she dialled his number.

Syaoran had sounded withdrawn when he picked up, like he wasn't in a good mood.

"Syaoran!" Sakura tried sounding more cheerful._ Maybe he was just having a bad day._

"Mmm. Wait, this is Sakura, right?"

"Of course, silly! Who did you think I was, my brother?" Sakura gave a high-pitched laugh that didn't really hide her shock at his comment._ Did it just sound like he'd.. forgotten? No, it couldn't be. _

"Well, the caller ID did say it was the Kinomoto residence. Just making sure." His voice was bland, expressionless, at most maybe a little defensive.

_What the?_

She tried making further small talk, trying to almost force a little conversation, but his short, curt replies meant that it wasn't long before an awkward, tense silence had fallen between them.

She tried one last time to revive the talk.

"So, Syaoran, what should we do for our wedding?"

It took quite a while for his reply. She suddenly felt like she'd just picked the wrong thing to say.

"Look, Sakura.."

"Yes?" She was getting a very bad feeling.

"Things aren't really working out."

"What do you mean?"

"I think we should break up."


	3. There's Only So Much You Can Do

**.There's Only So Much You Can Do.**

Sakura didn't reply. She couldn't.

Syaoran mumbled an apology and promptly hung up.

She stayed still, the phone still at her ear, listening to the dialling tone.

"Why?" Her voice called out, but to no reply.

Somewhere in the thick fog of her thoughts, she tried finding something to anchor down on, to focus.

She drifted into her memories, a light seemingly piercing through.

Syaoran. Oh, Syaoran.

Their romance had started off perfectly - how could she have forgotten the day the Nothing was turned into the Hope, how she had jumped, no, flown over the missing stairs and into his arms [although he'd almost slipped]?

Then there was her first kiss - it was awkward, but they'd both enjoyed it. Meeting up was no problem as Syaoran came down to Japan regularly, almost every week.

Several blissful years on, when they were 17, he'd proposed, and of course, she'd said yes.

But somehow, everything seemed to go downhill after that. Tomoyo moved to the US, and Syaoran's visits and even phone calls became less and less frequent, no matter how Sakura tried. He always said he was busy.

A year on, Sakura had felt that she barely knew her fiancé anymore. Two months ago, at his last visit, he seemed like a stranger, acting different, more blunt and less caring to her than he usually was.

Subconsciously, she'd harboured the thought of this day coming, but was hoping it never would.

She flopped herself onto her bed, the same one she'd been sleeping on ever since she could remember. She tried to cry, but strangely, the tears wouldn't come, and a cold numbness slowly overtook her as she eventually drifted off into sleep.

- - - -

The next day rolled around and the alarm blared in her ears, jolting her awake. She turned over and put it on snooze, but sluggishly sat up when Kero didn't start yelling at her to get up, as he normally did. He hadn't come back yet.

She sighed as she changed and trudged her way down to breakfast.

"Mornin' Touya." Her dad had left early.

"Good morning. Monster." Touya smirked but it faded when Sakura didn't reply.

"Hey, Sakura, what's up? Are you feeling alright?" Touya sensed something. No matter how tired she was, Sakura always found the energy to get mad when she heard the 'monster' joke.

He was ignored. She nibbled at her breakfast and left for college.

Classes and people flew by, and Sakura found it hard to take anything in.

The end of the day finally came around, and she decided to give the bus a miss and walk home.

It seemed like something inside was slowly, but surely eating her away.

She soon reached a seemingly empty street, and approached a pedestrian crossing. She was about the cross when a vaguely familiar voice called out in alarm.

"Sakura! Stop there!"

She snapped out of her daze just in time to see a car tear right through the area she was going to step into, zipping through a both muddy and oily puddle and soaking her through.

Turning to the direction of the voice, Sakura found Yukito carrying grocery bags and dashing towards her, dropping various items as he went.

"Are you all right?" he called out but then cursed under his breath and stopped as a carton of milk fell and broke at his feet.

She sweatdropped and walked over to him to help.

Just as she reached him, a carton of eggs fell and smashed onto her only pair of trainers. They were from the US, sent by Tomoyo.

She really felt like screaming there and then. She could already feel the white of the egg slowly seeping in.

"Sakura, I am so sorry!"

She just sighed. Someone up there really had it in for her this week. What next? She'd burn the dinner she was meant to cook tonight? Kero actually turned into a frog? The world would end right here and now?

"Oh, It's alright. It's just my only pair of school shoes. I can always get another one, sure, they're cheap from the US, you know, only a gift-" Sakura stopped when she realized how sarcastic she sounded. How could she say that? Earth to Sakura, He'd pretty much just saved her from being run over!

Yukito flustered in his slight panic while trying to collect up the remaining foodstuffs.

"I'm really sorry, Sakura, if there's anything I can do to help, or pay for-"

"Actually, wait, Yukito, I should say sorry. It's just that I haven't had a good day, and…"

Syaoran. Oh, Syaoran.

She could already fell the tears welling up. Oh, great, she thought, pick this time of all times to cry now.

"Sakura, are you all right?"

"Mmmumokay." If she spoke out loud now, the tears would probably start falling.

"Wha-" Yukito noticed her shining eyes and paused for a while.

She reached up to wipe the unshed tears, but tried disguising the action by blowing her nose. Neither really worked. Yukito gently bent down to face her.

"Sakura, my place is just around the corner. Let's get you cleaned up there, okay?" Yukito's voice was soft, gentler.

Sakura quietly nodded and followed him to his home.

- - - -

Yukito had been long since living alone after the illusion of his grandparents had dissipated. Nonetheless, he was still someone who took pride in his home, simple as it was. Sakura had always wondered how he managed to keep it so clean.

But her thoughts were now on something else altogether. The numbness had set in again.

She came out of it slightly when she felt a small tap on her shoulder – Yukito had found a spare change of his clothes from when he was younger, and a towel. She thanked him, took the items and made her way to the bathroom.

About half an hour later, as she was drying her hair off in the kitchen, Yukito sat down beside her and handed her a mug of steaming drink. She recognized the smell.

"You've always liked hot chocolate." He smiled gently. For the first time that day, things didn't seem too unbearable. In fact, she was starting to feel kind of… warm.

This wasn't the first time she'd ended up in his house because of his concern, either. Like the times when Kero had gone missing, and when Tomoyo had moved to US. But there were better occasions too, such as when Sakura had collected all the cards, when Syaoran had asked her to marry him. Each time, Yukito always gave her hot chocolate – it was a little fact that Sakura kept to herself like a good luck charm, like a special secret between the two of them.

And it meant Kero was wrong about something - she did have a friend, not counting Tomoyo. Yukito would always try to be there for her, and somehow, that soft, rarely gone smile of his always felt so safe, so secure.

Her eyelids drooped a little as she let the thoughts swirl around, following the white steam from the hot chocolate.

And then the swirls turned black.

Syaoran. Oh, Syaoran.

One glancing thought of Syaoran and she was weeping, sobbing into her drink. Only now did the full force of last night's conversation really hit her, and it hit her hard.

"S-Sakura! Are you okay?" A startled Yukito exclaimed, and ran to her side.

"Syaoran… He.. He broke up with me..."

At first the words didn't come out right. But when they did, she began to babble. Going full speed ahead, she poured her heart out to him, telling him how dejected she felt, how she was so worried, what she should have done, Kero's gone missing again, you know what, maybe everything's all her fault, yeah, Kero was right, it probably was, not to mention-

"Sakura." All it took Yukito was one word. She looked up at him into his delicately brown eyes.

"Sakura, it's not your fault. You couldn't have predicted this, could you?"

"Well, n-no.. But I could have!" She stood up from her seat, fists clenched. "I could have prevented it!"

She was starting to head on to full-flung hysteria. Her voice was almost horribly high-pitched, and the tears just kept streaming down her face. Her mind had quickly turned into a hurricane of mishmashed thoughts and feelings.

Only to suddenly die down when she felt Yukito's slim arms around her, and him pulling her close.

Her eyes widened, and she stopped speaking. Her mind froze for just a second, but it felt like a small eternity.

"It's okay, Sakura, it's okay." His voice was soothing, calm.

Her arms slowly fell to her sides. Then, as though working on their own, they slowly lifted and wrapped themselves across Yukito's back.

It only took minutes for Sakura to slowly weep away the last of her tears that day.

- - - - - -

**Phew!  
**

**The next chapter will hopefully be finished within the next week or so. It'll get more cheerful from here on, no worries.  
**

**Thank you to those who took the time a fair while ago to write a review - it was reading them again that brought on this update, whether for better or worse. **

**Feel free to comment, review or critique - I really want to improve. Anonymous reviews enabled in case you really couldn't stand this fic, heh heh..  
**

**And thank YOU very much for reading this far. Till next time!**


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